D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
February
2009
A Whole New Ballgame
Thrust into the legislative lineup in place of one of the state's most powerful senators, Howie Morales steps up to the plate.
Story and photos by David A. Fryxell
A warm January breeze rattles the branches bracketing the entrance to state Sen. Howie Morales' office, a barely noticeable caf-au-lait-colored door on the backside of the Hwy. 180 medical offices of his wife and father-in-law. A paper sign thumb-tacked to the door reassures visitors who suspect they may be in the wrong place: "This is the entrance to Senator Howie Morales's office. If the door is not open, please wait here, he will be here shortly. Thank you."
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Howie Morales was appointed to fill
the seat of the late Sen. Ben Altamirano, president of the New Mexico
Senate and a force in Santa Fe for 36 years. |
It's not exactly the sort of opulence or palpable expression of power you might expect from the successor to one of the most influential men in the New Mexico legislature. Morales was appointed a year ago to fill the seat of Sen. Ben Altamirano, who died in late December 2007 at age 77 after serving District 28 — which encompasses most of Grant, Catron and Socorro counties — for 36 years. Altamirano, a Democrat, had been chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee for 17 of those years before stepping up to the post of Senate president. A key ally of Gov. Bill Richardson, Altamirano was renowned for his ability to funnel funding to southwest New Mexico — a legacy that put his name on everything from Western New Mexico University's football field to Silver City's new civic and convention center. That latter project, for which Altamirano scored $2.5 million in one of his last big hauls for his district, will take over the former Teleperformance building across the highway from Morales' office.
"I often hear I have big shoes to fill," Howie Morales concedes. "But I've never been intimidated or threatened by that. Instead, I think: What a great example to follow!"
Although Morales, at age 35, was by far the youngest member of the state legislature when he arrived in Santa Fe last January, neither his youth nor those "big shoes" seemed to worry him. Indeed, it's fair to say that state senator was a job Morales has been preparing for all his life. To use a baseball analogy — and Morales' other passion, besides politics, is baseball — he was like a star prospect who'd risen through the minor leagues, paying his dues, readying himself to replace the team's star slugger.
After winning appointment to Altamirano's seat by Gov. Richardson, Morales ran for the Senate on his own in 2008. He easily turned back a primary challenge by Silver City activist Chris Aquino, then defeated GOP opponent Joseph Gros, senior pastor at Calvary Chapel in Silver City, by two to one — a margin of nearly 7,000 votes. The current legislative session is Morales' first as an elected state senator.
Although Morales may lack his predecessor's three decades-plus experience, his roots in the community go every bit as deep as those of Altamirano — to whom, in fact, he's distantly related. Both his father, Henry, and his grandfather — the father of his mother, Helen — worked in the local mines. His parents and grandparents grew up in the Santa Rita-Hurley area. His father had 16 siblings, giving Howie Morales almost enough cousins to get him elected all by themselves.
One of those cousins, now a vice president at 1st New Mexico Bank, gave Morales — born Henry, like his dad — his lifelong nickname: "She couldn't pronounce 'Henry.' It came out 'Howie,' and that stuck," he explains. "It's been really helpful having a name that's not very familiar — though some celebrities are named 'Howie' — because it sticks in people's heads."
Until his election as Grant County clerk in 2004, locals knew "Howie" best as a successful coach. As an assistant coach at Silver High School, where he also founded the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter, Morales was part of several district titles and the 1996 state triple-A boys basketball championship and the 1997 state triple-A baseball championship. Moving on to be head baseball coach at Cobre High School, he's led teams to the state playoffs seven straight years and won five district titles, four regional championships, and three third-place and two runner-up state trophies. He's been named district coach of the year five times. In 2005, Morales became the youngest baseball coach in New Mexico history to reach 100 wins, in the shortest amount of time, four and a half years.
So, nope, being the youngest member of the state senate didn't faze him. And you get the feeling that, with two near-misses at the state championship with his Cobre High baseball team, he's not the kind of guy who quits before he finishes first. In baseball or in politics.
Howie Morales is running late. Although it's only the first full week of January and the legislative session doesn't open until Jan. 20, he's already on the go. Up this morning to deliver a breakfast talk to a group of students at 7:30, a pre-session committee meeting after that, a friend's funeral this afternoon.
Appropriately enough for a day on the run, he's dressed in a slate-gray and black track suit. Not tall, solidly built but not so much as to qualify as "husky," Morales — who turned 36 on Jan. 5 — is darkly good-looking, with intense brown eyes and a ready smile. A black stubble this morning almost suggests he's been inspired by Gov. Richardson's beard — or it could just be getting up in time for that breakfast speech.
He opens the door to his office, which is much tonier inside than its bland facade would suggest. Black leather-looking chairs surround a small glass conference table. On the wall behind where Morales sits is a poster of his father, Henry V. Morales, as a handsome young man and as a helmeted Vietnam-era soldier. Baseball memorabilia tops a wooden bookcase, including the grinning visage of the Cobre Indians mascot — a knockoff of the Cleveland Indians' Chief Wahoo — above a bat labeled "Morales."
On the table is a photo of Morales' daughter, Elena Maria, now four months old. He smiles at the picture and says, "It used to be I'd get so busy, I wouldn't get to the house until 8 or 9 p.m. Since she was born, it's now more like 5:30."
Elena Maria and Morales' wife, Dr. Teresa Arizaga-Morales, medical director of behavioral health services at Gila Regional Medical Center, will stay with him as much as possible in Santa Fe during the legislative session, except when breaks allow Morales to come home. But he's already thinking ahead to future sessions: "What will we do when she's in school?"
Family considerations aren't the only sacrifice of serving in New Mexico's part-time, unpaid state legislature. When he was appointed to fill the rest of Altamirano's term in January 2008, Morales resigned as county clerk and quit his part-time teaching appointment at WNMU. He's been without a job — except as state senator and baseball coach — ever since.
"It was my commitment to the office," he explains. "I needed to learn the ins and outs, so I gave myself a whole year. Once this session's over, I'll try to go back into education full-time. There was an administrative opening at Cobre, but I didn't think it was fair to apply when I'd be gone for 60 days.
"The system is designed for retired individuals," Morales adds without rancor. "Last year, I was by far the youngest in the legislature — I think the next oldest was 48. But we're seeing a shift now, and this year there are maybe a half-dozen around the same age as me. Raising children, having a job — it's a new age for the legislature!"
Talking to Howie Morales, with his eternally sunny outlook and civics-lesson convictions, you begin to wonder: Is this guy too good to be true?
State Sen. John Arthur Smith, a Deming Democrat who chairs the powerful Finance Committee once headed by Altamirano, is one of those Morales credits for helping him get oriented to the legislature. Smith says the young District 28 senator is the real thing: "Well, number one, he complied with the best advice I was given when I started out, which was to listen an awful lot before you talk a lot," Smith says. "I didn't actually give that advice to Howie, though. He seemed to pick it up on his own.
"He's bright, with a broad knowledge of a lot of areas that, when you start to pick his brain, starts to surface," Smith goes on. "He seemed to get along with both sides of the aisle, too. Despite what you might think, not every issue is a partisan issue — many are not — so it's important to make those alliances for when you legitimately need help."
Whether on the ballfield or in the classroom, Morales says earnestly, "leadership was always part of what I did. I learned from my father, from community leaders like [former legislator] Murray Ryan, Sen. Altamirano, even relatives."
But it was education, not politics, that initially drew Morales. After graduating from Silver High School, he got a bachelor's degree in biology and special education and a master's in interdisciplinary studies bilingual/special education, both from WNMU. He went on to earn a PhD in education from New Mexico State University. All that training was put to work in five years teaching special education for Silver schools and three in Cobre, followed by two years as Cobre's special-education transition coordinator.